Red vs Blue: Frigate
by Agent Texas
Summary: Agent Washington discovers strange radio signals from the fringes of space. He recruits his ex Agent Rhode Island and her brother Indiana to follow him to investigate. What they find is anything but as anticipated. Will they live or die? *Joint fiction.
1. Chapter 1, Signals

Frigate

Chapter One, Signals

The wind whistled around the car, an oblivious freelancer driving with music to fill the empty air. It was some new pop song that the only station she received a signal from had been playing at least once an hour. Somehow, it wasn't getting as boring as she'd expected it to, but of course, the tune wasn't euphonious anymore. Having gotten used to hearing the same announcer voice, the same upbeat and high voice of the man singing, she could only listen and drive instead of complaining like she might have done back home.

Her husband Tennessee wouldn't have minded and neither would her son Richard. But right now she wasn't at home, she had to remind herself. The military wouldn't stand for bitching, especially her commander who just so happened to be her ex-fiancé from way back. Didn't make any difference, he would've been an ass even if their extensive history hadn't caused it. That was just the kind of person he was. And that was one of the many reasons she had had an affair before they got married and not discreetly. She could've hid from him if she'd wanted------- she'd gotten away with having affairs before, on her husband even and with her commander.

It wasn't that she didn't love her husband, or that he wasn't a good partner, it was simply that she had harbored feelings for her ex. Sometimes she wondered if not marrying him was a mistake, and then she took one look into his cold gray eyes and knew she hadn't. She didn't hate him now that it was all over with, honestly she cared about him, even loved him, just not in the same way she had before. Things had changed after her son was born.

She smiled, her blond hair flailing around her face and the warm sun reflecting off her paled skin from years of hiding in her Spartan armor.

The boy was about fifteen now, as smart as his father and just as handsome.

Unfortunately, he was so smart and athletic that some people in high places had taken noticed and Tennessee had had no choice but to allow them to use their son in experiments. More specifically, the Director of Project Freelancer. With scientists' help, they had altered his DNA and now he was about two inches taller than his father and could run for about eight miles without getting tired. It wasn't so bad, it just made it hard for him to fit in with others his age. A lot of them resented him for being so much "better" if you will then them.

That made her sneer.

Of course they were all dicks about it, which didn't really surprise her. Kids in this day and age were asses. Actually, just about everybody was. What happened to common courtesy? Surely there was some out there?

She pulled up to the metal gate and a voice crackled over the intercom. It was a man with a British accent, he sounded cheerful for having such a low paying job with nothing more to do then sit around all day. "Please indentify yourself."

"Agent Rhode Island." The gate clanked open with that and she proceeded to go through the necessary checkpoints. It was useless, they weren't very thorough anyway, but it was better than nothing she supposed.

They deemed her clear and she drove her warthog to the garage and tucked her helmet under her arm before turning around. Starting over from his warthog was her ex and commander, his helmet in his grip and a slight smirk on his face, but like it always did, it never touched his cold eyes. If they could look anymore like ice they would look like steel instead.

He'd not always been heartless and cold, but after his AI experience from Project Freelancer, he was hardly ever caught even attempting a smile. His patience was zero to none and he would kill anybody who got in his way without even risking a second thought. How did it come to this? Nobody really knows except him.

"Rhode, I was wondering when you'd return. How was your mission?" He never called her by her first name anymore, just Agent Rhode, Rhode or Recovery Ten. She guessed it made sense, but sometimes she did call him by his first. Maybe that was just another gap in their personalities of the many others there were.

Where he was heartless, she was all about love, she loved to be close to people, he chose to distance himself and he was serious where she was rarely ever serious…the list goes on and on. It was amazing to her now that they'd ever even made it past courting. But maybe that was just another of their many gaps. She couldn't see a future between them, but yet he could see everything. Even now she had a feeling he saw it clearly. Just the way he looked at her with a wistful gaze sent signals. Perhaps he loved her still, but she didn't want that. But she'd never ask, so she'd never truly know.

"My mission went fine. Just had to take care of a couple agents," she said as she reached into the passenger's seat and grabbed a busted helmet with shattered glass gingerly. He watched her intently, leaning to see what she had, but she quickly tossed it over to him. She wasn't an idiot, not only had he been looking to see what it was she had, but he'd also been giving her a once over, so that was partly the reason she wasn't careful to toss the dangerously sharp helmet at him.

He scrambled with his grip a moment.

For a moment, he stared at it before looking up at her with a little disbelief flashing in his cold eyes. "You killed California?"

"She gave me trouble." Rhode shrugged nonchalantly, starting towards the exit of the garage in the corner.

"Wait! Vanessa!" he shouted over the roar of car engines and a PA system that didn't even compete with the other voices echoing. She instinctively stopped midstride and turned at the sound of her name.

"What, David?" He strolled over to her, a serious look in his eyes. Gently he placed a hand on her wrist, giving it a tug.

"I need you to come with me. It's important." It was rare he touched her or stopped her, but usually when he did it was important. It was probable that he didn't stop her simply because he didn't like spending time with her now that things were a little awkward. It must have urgent, not to mention he resented giving her dangerous orders unless absolutely necessary because of wanting her not to get injured or killed. She didn't particularly understand that or his infatuation with her.

She and Omicron could handle themselves probably better than he could himself and three other agents.

Oh yeah, a few select agents had been handpicked to keep their AI and that was her, Utah, Georgia and North. North was dead though, so…

"What is it?" She began following him towards the exit on the other side of the garage, him standing close so he could speak without making it audible to the others, which was particularly close. Their shoulders were brushing and bumping, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I found some odd radio signals out in the fringes of the galaxy." That didn't sound too serious, why was he acting as if it was so urgent?

"It could just be covenant."

"No, it's not, trust me on this one. I'll show you what I've got." So she followed him, his hand holding her wrist the whole way. It seemed unusual he was afraid she'd wander, but she didn't say anything, just reminded herself that he was just being cautious. Hell, she was probably the only person he would even begin to trust with information like this. So she tried to take this as a privilege.

The room he took her into was his own private work office----all lithium with a metal, round desk resting in the center with a computer screen and keyboard with a mouse. But that wasn't all. Scattered throughout the walls were multiple computer screens, all black for the moment.

He released her hand when he locked the door. "I was just searching and I accidentally found it." He moved to the desk and set his helmet on it while tossing California's onto the ground nearby. The visor shattered and she heard him quickly mutter "fuck" under his breath.

It was a little chilly in here, but yet he seemed perfectly at home in cool temperatures that would freeze other people. Maybe that was a result of growing up in Oregon and by the mountains, or maybe not, she wasn't sure.

Loud clicking as he entered the password to unlock his computer filled the otherwise silent room. It wasn't really awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either.

She was torn between saying something and maybe making things awkward and not saying anything at all and leaving the atmosphere as is. He didn't seem to notice all that much as he clicked away, but she did. That could be related to how she was more social than he was and thus she was more accustomed to picking out awkward situations and comfortable ones.

If she spoke, then things could get even more awkward, but if she didn't it might do the same thing. It wasn't that horrible if it did, but she certainly didn't like it when it got that way.

"Got it." She looked over at him and he glanced back, giving her a slight smirk, his eyes still as blank as steel. Glad that she didn't have to make a decision, she leaned her ear towards the speakers on the wall. It didn't sound like covenant at all, it sounded like gargles and just plan disgusting sounds. She didn't even want to hear it.

"Ew! It's making me nauseous!" He almost smiled at her complaint as he went and turned it off. He brought up a map of the galaxy instead and pointed at their location, circling it in yellow.

"We're here in the east region above Jupiter. I was able to trace the signal to the North West regions by no planets at all." Now he highlighted in red the area where he'd tracked it to, which was just far enough away that it wouldn't freeze, but whatever it was would certainly be as cold as the arctic. If he asked her to go there, she'd kick his ass here and now. "I did some research and found that this," he brought up a report now with a picture of a frigate in the garage, sparks flying off the invisible side and suspended up by locking support beams. "It's a specialty ship made specifically for deep space trips."

"What's this have to do with it?" He sighed, not fond of her impatience. He was getting to that, why couldn't she just wait? Oh right, because she just wants to hell out of here.

"I found out that it had gone missing last time around the area I'm receiving the signals. Spooky, huh? Anyway, I was able to find out that it was supposedly destroyed, but-" she cut him off gently knowing exactly where this was going.

"You think it's still out there?"

"Affirmative."

"Well, what are you gonna do about it?" He shifted his weight from foot to foot, unsure how to say this. It wasn't exactly what _he_ was going to do, there _was_ a reason he was telling her this after all. If he'd been planning to investigate it on his own, he wouldn't have even bothered telling her.

"I'm not going to do anything, I want-"

"Hell no." He turned to face her, leaning back against his desk with his elbows on it. His face contorted into a deep frown at her stubbornness. She'd always been this way, but it didn't make her any easier to deal with.

"Vanessa, just let me finish."

"Why should I?" She glared heavily at him, not really even having desire to hear what he had to say at all. She wasn't going out there and that was final. There was no negotiating that and he wasn't a retard, he had to know this just by looking at her. Probably the source of the glower she was now receiving, she had no doubt. It was berating all as much as it was sympathetic. He sympathized with her because of her brother and that was precisely why he knew she'd do this. Had he believed that he couldn't get her to do this, he wouldn't have said anything.

"Because if you don't, let me say this: you might never get to see your brother again." That struck a nerve and she stiffened immediately, her glaring turn into scrutiny. She saw nothing that she hadn't already----anger, bitterness, but yet an expression on his face that contradicted with that.

He was right, she might not. Her brother wasn't exactly a youngling, being so much older than her.

Her parents had had her brother when her mother was fifteen and then they'd run away because her grandparents were going to take away their baby. They made a hardly functional life together and raised her brother. When her brother was twenty two, her parents had her out of pure accident again. She'd grown up to two dying parents and they'd passed away early on in her young life. She'd made it to eighteen with a high school education but nothing more to show. Deciding her best bet was to go to college, she went to a university away from her old home. Staying there only held the presence of her dead parents and she couldn't live with that hanging over her. She went to Oregon State. That was where she'd met David who is now known by multiple names: David, Recovery One, Agent Washington and Wash.

Needless to say, her brother was growing old and he had a drinking and smoking problem that was through the roof. Both of them knew it. He'd done it since it was legal. It was a wonder he was even alive as they spoke.

"I know…" She hung her head, crossed her arms and turned away. He warily took a step towards her, pushing away from the desk, sure to gauge her reaction. When she didn't react, he moved over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"So if you know, why don't you do something about it?"

"I can't." He shook his head and turned away.

"That's total bullshit and you know it. You could always go see him."

"But I don't want to see him dying." Tears began to flood her eyes, so she swatted at them, not feeling like crying, but wanting to. Though her brother and she had always had an odd relationship, he was still all she had that was family. That's not counting Richard---or Rich as he's known by---but that was different, he was her son, not her brother or her parents.

"He's a strong son of a bitch----you don't have anything to worry about."

"I can't do it." He faced her now, his expression intense like he was about to either backhand her or kiss her. Neither would have come as a surprise, but he did none of those. Instead he spoke sharply and as if she'd just insulted him.

"You can't do it or you can't do it alone?"She thought about it for a moment.

"Alone."

"I'm coming with you," he said without room for argument and grabbed his helmet. He slipped it on and retrieved his pistol from his leg. She looked at him curiously, unsure why he had his gun readied. He knew exactly why she was staring at him like that. "What? I don't trust Indy. Hell, the guy'll probably try to kill me when I get there. You remember what he did to Colorado, right?" She cringed, but laughed.

It was true. Her brother didn't really like her dating anybody, but he did like Tennessee quite a lot.

Colorado had been her other boyfriend after Wash and Indy had scared him off. He'd broken it off with her pretty quickly and though they'd been friends for a little while afterward and a long while before, Colorado had eventually broken off communications with her. Actually, he'd gone MIA, but whatever. "You remember him, right? He used to lift you on his shoulders and you'd accidentally hit the doorway all the time." She laughed a little again at the memory, at the time it'd pissed her off a little, but now it was just humorous.

"Yeah, I remember." Wash chuckled a little, opening the door for her.

"I think I would've broken my back if I'd tried to do that." They started down the hallway, him locking the door first.

"Probably, you poor wuss." He glared at her but gave no response otherwise. She slipped on her helmet, but didn't retrieve her weapon like him.

In the silence they passed by Georgia who waved slightly but gave no other response. They were good friends with him, but he was in cryogenic storage for a long while and for most of his life. Nobody really knew why he chose to stay frozen, but he did. She wondered sometimes if it was because he didn't feel like he had a reason not to be.

"I'm gonna shoot your brother if he attempts murder."

"I'll kill you, bastard."

"Not if I kill you first." In a way it sounded like they were teasing each other, but closer inspection showed it wasn't exactly a joke and more of a real threat.

"You can't kill me first! I've got Indy on my side."

"Fuck, you have a point there." He muttered something under his breath afterward that she didn't care to catch. Sounded like it was an insult, but who knows.

The ride was fairly quiet, but occasionally they would say something not worth mentioning.

Out in a desert like area with half dead shrubs, Wash maneuvered into a beaten path and up to the shack Indy had built himself a while ago to escape when need be. Not many people knew about it and that included Rhode. Wash only knew because he'd spied on Indy for awhile. You know, for precautionary purposes. Certainly not because he thought he was up to something….okay, he did think he was, but that was beside the point.

The shack had a tin roof, the rest made out of wood. The door was metal with a window on the front and a grill and law chair carelessly scattered across the "yard". It looked unkempt and that could be said as an understatement.

"You know that we're going to that ship together now, right?" Wash said as they got out of the warthog parked at the entrance by a large shrub.

Rhode glared at him, but didn't protest. At this point, arguing with him would be as useful as cutting herself with a knife.

They gingerly approached with Wash having the most defensive face and posture as possible and her just a little wary. From inside, faint music became apparent. It sounded crackly and as if it was playing from an old radio, but those kinds of radios were so incredibly rare nowadays it seemed highly unlikely Indy had one. Unless he was more resourceful than even Wash had thought.

Wash let out a loud cough when he smelled the strong scent of alcohol and smoke. She snarled at him to keep quiet and he simply shrugged.

"What in the Sam hell?" Indy's voice sounded from inside, hoarse and defensive but aged all the same.

"Indy? Are you in there?" she asked him.

"Vanessa!" She heard some scrambling and Wash scrambled away as she rolled her eyes. Damn he was a wimp when it came to Indy, but maybe that was because her brother had shot him on a lot of different occasions and tried to kill him before. Then again, a lot of people tried to kill Wash and Indy tried to kill just about everybody.

The door was pushed open and Indy stood in the doorway, reeking of smoking and whiskey.

Wash gagged behind her immediately, but she just stared at her brother. He had gray hair, looked pretty good though, well minus looking like he was drunk by slouching slightly. "Sis! It's been too long, Kiddo!" He wrapped his arms around her in a smell destroying hug as she was assaulted full blast by the smoke and whiskey. It almost made her gag.

Behind her though, she heard the nauseating sound of Wash throwing up. Obviously they'd not been even remotely prepared in the smells department. "Oh and look, you brought sissy wuss pants." She chuckled a little as her brother stepped back, glowering at Wash with amusement.

Of course he was enjoying the smell was bothering her ex. Indy was just like that, and on occasion, she enjoyed that. He could be cruel and make jokes about anything.

"Be nice, he's the one that convinced me to come here." She smiled and berated him with her eyes.

"Why are you guys here?"

"We'll explain, can we come inside?" Indy glanced in and then back, shaking his head.

"It's a mess. Besides I don't think that _thing_ will want to come in anyway." There was a grunt of dissatisfaction from behind her. It was true, he wouldn't want to come inside and she didn't particularly know if she wanted to either.

"Okay."

Not two minutes later, they were sitting outside in fold out chairs, Indy with a smoke and bottle of whiskey, Wash farther away with a sneer on his faced and Rhode sitting close to him, unbothered by his odor. "What have you been doing out here all by yourself, Brother?"

"Living life." Wash seemed to think he was lying or was just disgusted by his use of the word "life" by the sneer on his face deepening. He grunted as well.

"That's great! Wash, why don't you tell him why we're here?" She smirked at him, glad to have gotten her revenge. He glared at her, his eyes narrowing. He disliked talking to her brother at all and her brother didn't seem to like him either all that much. Then again, Indy didn't show feelings other than dislike, so it was hard to tell. Well, unless of course it was to her.

"I located some radio signals deep in space. They're-"

"I'm in." Wash stared at him, confused. "Oh, don't look so retarded, it makes me want to laugh. I'm going with you to investigate."

"Yay, Indy, it wouldn't be the same without you!" She glomped him and he didn't respond but to take a sip of his whiskey.

"Somebody's gotta keep you two off each other, you know what I mean?" She gaped at his mention of her sin and Wash simply tried to stifle a laugh. Ha ha, very funny. If it would've been acceptable, she would've kicked his ass there.

"We leave in two days. I'll pick you up at seven AM. Actually, Rhode will." Wash winked at her and she closed her mouth, scuffing. He was good. Bastard.

4


	2. Chapter 2, Arrival

Chapter Two, Arrival

Chapter Written by Dachsund on Rooster Teeth and Edited by Yours Truly!

Indy walked down the hall with his helmet tucked his under arm towards the docking bay to meet Washington and Rhode. With him he carried a shotgun and an SMG equipped with a silencer.

As he maneuvered through the halls he noticed that some guards were staring at him. He heard chatter of how old he was often and now was no exception. It was rare that freelancers became as old as he did and remained in the force. Most of the time they were retired by his age, sitting somewhere and waiting to die, but Indy wouldn't allow that to happen to himself. He wasn't going without a fight.

He walked through the docking bay doors and spotted Rhode checking her weapons. By her expression, her gun appeared jammed. He decided to assist her. "Come on you piece of sh-" He cut her off gently with a slight smirk.

"Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" She chuckled and Indy took the rifle and with a few swift movements, had the barrel clear.

"Where did you learn to do that?" she asked with a slightly fascinated gleam.

"It's not important, where's Wash?" She put her helmet on and retrieved her pistol from her leg.

"He's already on the ship waiting for us, by the way I-" Wash started shouting for them to hurry it up from the pelican.

"You can tell me later, come on." He walked off as she gave him a sigh and shook her head, but followed after him.

"About time you decided to join us again, Indiana," wash said with a tone suggesting smugness, but maybe a bit of true happiness. That always made Indy mad, he never liked the jobs he had to do, one more year or so and he planned to retire.

"I'm here for my pay, when the job is done, I'm disappearing again." They stared at each other for awhile in a bit of a confounding way before Wash walked to the cockpit silently.

"Bro? You're leaving the organization?" she questioned, having never understood why her brother had such a problem with other freelancers and the Director. He never told anyone about what happened to him, but he left clues, just no one could figure it out.

He put his helmet on and so did Rhode and Wash. Indy took notice of a turret out of the corner of his eye and helped himself as she looked at him and asked. "Do you really think something bad will happen?"

"I like to be prepared for the worst." Some soldiers were being brought with them, which Indy never liked, and this caused him to feel more cautious and naturally more distrustful.

*An hour later*  
They arrived at their destination in a matter of hours. The pilot---who had taken Wash's place----announced and everyone prepared their weapons.

_Click, shup._

They docked the ship and they all filed out of the pelican and onto the supposed abandoned ship.

"Split up into two teams: Indy you're with alpha squad, Rhode your with me and bravo. Move out!" Wash commanded and everyone split into their groups and departed. As he jogged alongside Rhode, his weapon readied, he spoke to her. "How do you get along with him so much?" _He's just sticking his__ nose where it doesn't belong, _she thought.

"He's my brother, Wash, we're supposed to be looking out for each other." Wash glanced at her with a slight glare.

"But just think, you two are nothing alike. He's an old man and you're a soldier." Rhode glowered in his direction now, in a state of disbelieve he was doing this right now.

"He's my brother and I love him, that simple."

"Oh come on, if he loved you, then he wouldn't have gone into the desert and never even wrote to you." They could hear his echo throughout the ship despite the calmness he kept. Embarrassed enough, Rhode pinned him up against the wall and spoke in a hiss.

"Go fuck yourself, Wash." And with that, she went ahead alone.

*Meanwhile with Indy*

"Jennings go scout ahead." He got no response and frowned, searching around a moment. "Hey Jennings? Hey, where's Jennings!?" Everyone searched around, but all that was left was gun and a puddle of blood. Obviously that wasn't a good sign.

They heard guns going off behind the door ahead and rushed towards it. Only a moment later had they breached it. Indy pointed his turret at everyone in the room until a female soldier pointed a gun back at him.

"Drop the turret or I drop you," she commanded.

*To be Continued*

It's a lot shorter than the last one, but don't worry, I'll be sure to make my chapters longer than his. Hope you all enjoy! Review and tell us what you think!


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